"apan's banking giants have wasted little time in going after some of the biggest names on Wall Street. On Sept. 24, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T), Japan's third-largest bank, was considering a sizable investment in Goldman Sachs (GS), according to the financial daily Nikkei. Just two days earlier, Japan's biggest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MTU), announced it would buy a 10% to 20% stake in Morgan Stanley (MS). On the same day, Nomura Holdings (NMR), which runs the country's top brokerage, confirmed it was taking over most of Lehman Brothers' non-U.S. operations (BusinessWeek.com, 9/22/08)."